"Tathagata's Primal Vow surpasses conceptual
understanding; it is a design of the wisdom of Buddhas. It is not the
design of foolish beings. No one can fathom the wisdom of Buddhas, which
surpasses conceptual understanding."[1]
"Further,
with regard to Other Power, since it is
inconceivable Buddha-wisdom, the attainment of supreme Enlightenment by foolish
beings possessed of blind passions comes about through the working shared only
by Buddhas; it is not in any way the design of the practicer. Thus, no
working is true working. 'Working' that is negated refers to the calculation of
the person of self-power. Concerning Other Power, then, no working is true
working."[2]
One who entrusts himself to Amida Buddha
realizes that it is through Amida's Power that he is saved ("true working"), and not by his own designs and
calculations or through the so called "merits" he thinks he has
accumulated until now ("no working").
The fact that foolish beings are made to
attain perfect Enlightenment after birth in the Pure Land, although they are
now possessed by blind passions, is beyond conceptual understanding because, as
Shinran said, it is related with the "inconceivable
Buddha-wisdom" and it comes about "through
the working shared only by Buddhas". This means that only Buddhas know the mechanism of Amida's
salvation and only they can understand it. All we can do is to accept in faith
that such foolish people like us, possed of blind passions, will attain perfect
Enlightenment once we enter the Pure Land of Amida.
We are like ignorant peasants who enter a
plane for the first time. We do not know how the plane flies, but we trust the
pilot and the engineers who built it, and we are certain that they will take us
safely to the destination.
The theme of the
inconceivability of Amida Buddha's salvation is often mentioned in the sacred
texts. Simply stated, unenlightened
minds cannot understand the Enlightened Minds and the work of a Buddha,
just like an ignorant peasant who never got out of his village and who does not
know how to read or write, cannot understand planes or the flying technology.
Shinran Shonin even
scolds Kyomyo-bo in a letter, that to try to understand with his limited mind
or "conceptual understanding", the mechanism of the Vow and the Name
of Amida, will only lead to confusion:
"Once you simply realize that the Vow surpasses conceptual understanding
and with singleness of heart realize that the Name surpasses conceptual
understanding and pronounce it, why should you labor in your own calculation?
It seems to me that with all your attempts to understand by reasoning and by learning you have fallen into confusion. It is completely in error. Once you have simply come to realize that Vow and Name surpass conceptual understanding, you should not calculate in this way or that. There must be nothing of your calculation in the act that leads to Birth.
You must simply entrust yourself to Tathagata."[3]
It seems to me that with all your attempts to understand by reasoning and by learning you have fallen into confusion. It is completely in error. Once you have simply come to realize that Vow and Name surpass conceptual understanding, you should not calculate in this way or that. There must be nothing of your calculation in the act that leads to Birth.
You must simply entrust yourself to Tathagata."[3]
We can easily read and
understand the Primal Vow, which is the call of Amida Buddha to us, because it’s
so simple that even ignorant peasants can get its message - "entrust yourself to me, say my Name and wish to be born in my land". We can say
the Name of Amida, expressing our faith in Him, because it’s so easy to say it:
"Namo Amida Bu" or "Namo Amitabha", "Namo
Adidaphat" or "Namo Amituofo", etc. But we cannot understand the exact
supramundane details or mechanism through which Amida Buddha makes possible our
birth in the Pure Land, just like the
ignorant peasant does not know anything about flying technology.
As
Shinran said, "pronounce"
the Name even if its working "surpasses
conceptual understanding" and entrust to Amida Tathagata even if He
too, is beyond your capacity to understand: "You
must simply entrust yourself to Tathagata".
Another reason why we
cannot conceive Amida Buddha's salvation is because we are bound by ideas of
merit and punishment. We do not have enough love for ourselves, not to mention
other beings, so we might think that we must become worthy of such a grandiose
birth in the Pure
Land
"Why
is this inconceivable? When foolish beings possessed of blind passions attain
birth in the Pure Land, they are not bound by the karmic fetters of the three
realms. That is, without severing blind passions, they realize Nirvana itself.
How can this be conceived?"[4]
Truly, how can we
conceive that somebody, namely Amida Buddha, can have such an unlimited and
non-discriminatory Compassion that He devised a plan and a karmic mechanism to
bring into His Pure Land such "foolish beings possessed of blind passions"
like ourselves? But what we cannot conceive, and we cannot do ourselves for us
and others, a Buddha can certainly do. So, we must simply let go to our
calculating mind and entrust ourselves to Amida Tathagata.
"The
Pure Land teaching is the inconceivable Dharma-teaching."[5], and certainly, the most difficult thing in the world to accept in
faith, but also the shortest way to Nirvana for all beings, especially the
lowest of the low:
"It
is the Dharma by which ordinary and foolish beings bound by evil passions,
those in the lower levels of society, such as hunters and traders, can
instantly transcend birth and death and attain Buddhahood. This is called 'the
Dharma which is the most difficult thing in the world to accept in faith.'”[6]
Namo Amida Butsu
[1] Shinran Shonin, Lamp for the
Latter-Ages, letter 7, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism
Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.533
[2] Shinran Shonin, A Collection of
Letters, Letter 10, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism
Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.571-572
[3] Shinran Shonin, Lamp for the
Latter-Ages, letter 9, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism
Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.536
[4] Shinran Shonin, A Collection of
Passages on the Types of Birth in the Three Pure Land Sutras in The Collected Works of
Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu
Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.643
[5] Shinran Shonin, Lamp for the Latter Ages, letter 8. The
Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu
Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.535
[6] Shinran Shonin quoted
Master Yuan-chao in Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and
Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation
and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 117
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